Greetings all... straight to it...
- The Hawks are alive... 100-88 victors over the Bulls last night in front of a raucous Philips Arena crowd (I'm as surprised as you, believe me)... the story was "good" Josh Smith showing up for the most part... 23 points, 16 boards, and 8 huge assists for Smiff... he still managed to take 6 jump-shots (shooting 1 of 6 and extending his laughable output on these shots to 1-21 in the series), but for the most part, his talent was on display in about as good a way as you can ever expect... Al Horford (20 points) and Joe Johnson (24 points on just 14 shots) were up to the challenge as well, and Jeff Teague continues to impress in hounding Derrick Rose a bit, and playing above his head... speaking of Rose, he managed to muster 34 points but needed a crazy 32 field goal attempts to do so, and any Hawks fan would love to see that kind of output continue... other than that, the story for Chicago was missed jumpers... 3 of 16 on threes including 0-5 from Korver hurt them badly... what does it all mean? I'm not sure... the Jekyll/Hyde nature of the Hawks combined with the playoff inexperience of this Bulls team makes predictions difficult... but if the Hawks play like they did last night (a stretch), they can win this series...
- The Phil/Kobe Lakers are dead... at least it appears that way... they flat-out quit in a 122-86 blowout loss to Dallas last night... first off, credit to Dallas though... they shot 20-32 from three, 60% from the field, and a ludicrous 74% eFG last night... that's INSANE... yes, they were majority uncontested because of how bad LA was defensively, but most teams can't shoot those numbers in an empty gym... Jason Terry shot 9-10 from 3, and Peja shot 6-6... can't make this stuff up... they were fantastic... LA is the story though... from the Odom cheapshot to the absolutely flagrant Bynum flying forearm shiver (which was about as egregious as it gets), LA just was out-of-sorts... they didn't defend a soul all afternoon, and it's hard to ignore 3 different 30+ point blowout losses to end seasons in this era... weird stuff... If that's Phil Jackson's last game, he definitely deserved better from his guys...
- The Braves take 2 of 3 from Philly... after a loss on Saturday, Atlanta rallied to take the series behind Jair Jurrjens last night... 6.1 IP, 1 ER for Jair (who's season ERA is now a crazy 1.50), and they got 3 HRs (Hinske, Freeman, Gonzalez) to hold off Philly... the lead is now 3.5 games for Philly, and while it's too early to watch the standings (come on), it's nice to see that gap dwindling...
- Derek Jeter hit 2 homers last night... we can now stop the widespread panic...
- The NFL may use WADA to implement drug testing... the World Anti-doping agency currently handles Olympic testing, and I actually think this is a great idea... so, count me skeptical that it actually occurs...
What to watch for on Monday...
- Heat @ Celtics - Game 4 - 7:00 TNT - Really impressive performance for Boston in Game 3, but this is a quick turnaround, and you really have no idea what they'll get from Rondo... should be interesting
- Thunder @ Grizz - Game 4 - 9:30 TNT - Must win for OKC? I believe so... and I think they get this one...
- Twins @ Red Sox - Blackburn vs. Beckett - 7:00 ESPN - Random baseball if you don't want to watch Heat/Cs....
Enjoy...
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